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Bone Gnawers
History At the dawn of the Impergium, the Bone Gnawers were not a tribe, but a caste: the omega wolves, shamed, weak, castaways. The greatest in station gained the first share of the kill; the "bone gnawers' ate last. They were still warriors, treated as better than humans but not given the right to breed with the kinfolk for fear their weaknesses would be spread to the next generation. The Bone Gnawers became an actual tribe after the formation of the Western Concordiat. At first, they were just called urrah, "unclean". As scavengers, they began to live among humans and feed off their herds and fields. Packs and then septs emerged, giving their homage to Rat and developing a parasitic relationship with humans and their early cities. They created their own human kinfolk among peasants and slaves but continued to adopt in Garou who were rejected, ostracized and exiled from other tribes. Survival, rather than the Litany, was the Bone Gnawer's pressing issue. They lost their reverence for Gaia without falling to the Wyrm. Hardbitten, cynical and practical, the tribe focussed on finding enough food and shelter and protection against other threats, especially both the Black Spiral Dancers and the Highborn: the Silver Fang, Fenrir and Fianna. They developed their own laws, called the Bans. The Ban of Man *Help not Man for his survival unless it threatens ours. *Hurt not Man unless he threatens us. *Kill not Man for food unless we might perish The High Ban If you fight for a human cause or in a human war, do it in homid form. The Bone Gnawers in Southern Wales Unlike England, Wales was very slow to urbanize. By the end of the 13th century, Cardiff was the only town in Wales with a population exceeding 2,000 and it possessed the only sept of Bone Gnawers. The Black Death and the Shattering struck in 1348-1350 and then the town was burnt by Owain Glyndwr and his rebel forces in 1404. Both times the city- and the Bone Gnawers- bounced back. The Bone Gnawers have a spiritual prohibition to cause no harm to the children of Rat. The Warders of Men and Children of Gaia had no such prohibition, however. Both tribes struck out against the ratkin during the Shattering and the decades thereafter. The Bone Gnawers in the Borderlands Protectorate Newport developed its own sept of Bone Gnawers separate from Cardiff in the mid 1400s. They were a thriving sept with limited contact with vampires before Prince Indrus and his court fled there in 1648. The emergence of the vampire eldership brought Newport's Bone Gnawers and Warders of Men into cooperation for the very first time. Before then, both tribes had as little involvement was possible, the Children of Gaia generally mediating and working with both. The Sept of the Muddy Waters was destroyed by the Ratkin & Black Spirals in the mid 1990s. The Bone Gnawers did not have the influence of the Children of Gaia and Glass Walkers there but it was nevertheless a home- and the city has become inhospitable to all the Concordiat tribes. Pauper's Field was formed in the mid 1800s. It is a minor caern but the only territory exclusively belonging to the Bone Gnawers. Only a handful of Gnawers are born into the tribe from kinfolk; most are adopted in after being ostracized from a different tribe. They give up their name and previous identity to become someone new to both the nation and the Umbrood. The village of Rogiet and the hamlet of Llanfihangel Rogiet contain the housing and kinfolk of the dozen odd sept members. The tribe doesn't have a lot of solidarity in the protectorate. Outside of Pauper's Field, they tend to join mixed packs within a political faction. Some operate alone or with kinfolk and other allies. Factions Bonegnawers and Bonegnawer kinfolk actively participate in the following camps: Bringers of Winter, Frankenweilers, Hillpeople, Peace Makers and Ratfinks. Suggested Concepts *Born to parents with low-paying, thankless jobs in Cardiff, Newport, Risca or another nearby city, you had no idea that werewolves existed until your First Change. You were luckily found by a local pack and came to Wandering Moon to find a pack of your own. *The village of Caerleon has historical societies and medieval recreationist groups galore, the culture of the area was sufficient to pull in Frankweilers willing to put up with the uppity Fianna, Fenrir and Fangs and maybe prove to them that there's more to being a hero in the modern nation than a pretty coat. *Newport is lost to the Wyrm- that's all more the reason to live there and fight the good fight, day in and day out. Not all of the ratkin are tainted; some of them can make excellent allies. Likewise, there are other creatures besides just vampires and Black Spirals in the city. Finding the right people to help take back the city is an honorable path- the Veil covers humans, not magicians and Fair Folk no matter what some zealots at the caern think. back to Werewolf Main Page